A.c. Ferrieri

Anna Castelli Ferrieri has a place among a small group of postwar Italian designers whose influence is still felt today. She was known for working with plastic, a technological breakthrough of her time. In 1943 she became one of the first women to graduate from the Milan Polytechnic Institute, and opened her own studio in Milan in 1946. A few years later, she founded the Kartell company with her husband, Giulio Castelli. The Kartell building, which she designed with collaborator Ignazio Gardella became known as one of her best pieces of architecture, and served to signal the company’s aesthetic with its bold, red plastic blocks.